Steph Deschamps / October 11, 2021
A dancer at Russia's legendary Bolshoi Theater died Saturday in an accident on stage during an opera performance, the Moscow company announced.
The accident occurred during a set change in Sadko, a 19th-century opera composed by Russian Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov. The performance was immediately stopped and the audience was asked to leave the premises, the Bolshoi told the Interfax news agency.
The Moscow Investigative Committee said in a statement that it was investigating the death of the performer, whose name has not been released. The dancer, who was seriously injured, died before the ambulance arrived, the same source said.
According to Interfax, the 37-year-old man was crushed by a railing that fell from the ceiling during the set change. This tragedy is not the first to strike the prestigious Moscow stage: in 2013, a violinist had died after falling into the orchestra pit.